Sacrilege
by ChellyL
Summary: Some things are just off limits, someone forgot to tell Nick's new stalker. Nick's fiancee is attacked and raped while on a night out with her girlfriends and it's up to CSI to figure out who did it and why.
1. Chapter 1

Shift had just started for CSI and D.B. called his crew into his office. They gathered around his desk waiting for their assignments. "Alright we have a 419, possible 420 behind a strip club in Old Town, Greg, Hodges Dave you'll meet Brass over there. Here's the address." He handed Greg the address and silently dismissed them.

"So what about us D.B.?" Nick asked. "What do we get?" He motioned to CSI Sarah, Julie and himself. "Super secret desert case?"

Nick flashed his 500 watt smile, D.B knew he was about to take the wind out of the man.

"Yeah come on D.B. what's with the secret squirrel stuff?" Sarah chided her new boss.

D.B. pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to push back the stress headache that was building, "Nick, Finlay, Sidle have a seat." They did as they were asked and D.B. did the same. "There was a 426 called in at The Bellagio."

"Oh well we can handle that." Nick said in his usual cheerful 'go get 'em' tone. Plus he might be able to sneak off and see Andra, she was staying there with her girlfriends this weekend.

"No Nick, Finlay and Sidle will be working that scene. You're heading to Desert Springs Hospital with me."

Nick was getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he quickly looked at the screen of his cell phone, no missed calls or texts.

"It's Andra, Nick. She's the 426. She was found by her girlfriends in their suite."

"What! How! What's going on here?" Nick was growing more anxious and furious by the minute. "Why are we still here?"

"She's with the doctors, I've talked to her already. She said she didn't want you there until after they did the kit." D.B was using his calm fatherly tone to try and calm Nick down before he spent time in the car with him.

'The kit, the kit, the kit...' Nick's mind was racing and blank all at the same time, he knew what the kit was he just couldn't access that part of his memory right now, there was too much else going on in his mind right now.

"Does she have anyone with her?" Finlay asked with concern for her partner's Fiancee. "Sometimes those rape kits can be more dehumanizing than the rape itself if the doctor is a real ass."

D.B. nodded, "Her friends are with her. She told me explicitly she didn't want Nick to have to see the kit."

Nick dropped his head in his hands and was trying to get a grasp on the situation, his fiancee was in the hospital dealing with being raped and she was telling his boss how to handle him. 'This is not normal!' Was the only thought he could hold onto. "Why her?" The words were soft and barely escaped his lips, he wasn't even sure he had spoken them until D.B. answered him.

"We don't know Nick, but we're going to find out. Trust us to handle this."

Nick nodded solemnly, he knew the drill he was off this case and any cases possibly tied to it. He might as well go on leave for awhile.

"Alright, let's get going."

"We'll let you know if we find anything D.B." Sarah tried to reassure Nick more than their boss as she and Julie left. They each gave Nick a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder as they headed out to process their scene.

The usually quick 20 minute ride to the hospital was tense and seemed to drag on forever. D.B. noticed that Nick's jaw was ticking and that he kept flexing and relaxing his hands like he was going to hit someone.

"Nick, I'm not going to bore you with trivial platitudes that are just going to piss you off so I'm just going to tell you that you need to try and calm down."

"CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN! ARE YOU SERIOUS D.B! WE'RE WE IN THE SAME ROOM! CALM DOWN!" Nick exploded at D.B. thinking he was trivializing the situation.

"Yes Nick calm down, you can yell and scream and kick and punch things back at the station. Hell we have a shooting range. But now, here for her you need to calm down. This is about meeting her where she's at and supporting her. If she sees you seething like The Incredible Hulk she is going to stonewall you."

Nick was silent for a moment allowing D.B.'s words sink in. "Sorry D.B." For a moment Nick felt like he was back home in Texas getting a lecture from his father.

D.B. parked the car. "It's okay, we're here."

Nick looked up at the hospital in front of him, he'd been there hundreds of times to meet with witnesses and victims. Tonight though the illuminated letters of the 'Desert Springs Hospital' looked less inviting and comforting and more omniscient and sinister.

When they arrived at Andra's room there was a uniformed officer stationed outside the door. This was highly unusual. "Hey Brooks," D.B. greeted the officer. "What's going on here?"

"Captain ordered it. He thinks this was personal." The officer looked over at Nick. "Sorry Stokes. We've got your back man."

Nick nodded mechanically, remembering some politness, "Thanks man." He managed to mumble the words with no emotion, he was staring at the door in front of him.

"What makes him think that?" D.B. inquired.

"They found a note." The officer paused for a moment. "It was addressed to Stokes."

D.B. nodded in understanding, "Thanks Brooks."

For the second time in an hour Nick felt his world being turned upside down and inside out. How can this be real? Who hated him so much that they were willing to destroy the person he loved?

"I'd love to let you guys in but she's still being interviewed." Brooks offered.

Nick just nodded in understanding and walked over to one of the hard plastic red chairs lining the walls of the E.R. and plopped down.

D.B. stayed back and talked to the officer, trying to get more information out of him.

Nick thought back to the day he met Andra, it was purely a chance meeting. He was supposed to be off that day but Greg was sick, food poisoning or something, and he was called in. The team had been working a case for awhile, they were tracking a serial killer who was suspected of having bodies all over the U.S., New York, Chicago L.A, Texas, New Mexico, and now Vegas. They called in Dr. Armstrong from the university to psychologically profile the suspect and help out CSI but Armstrong had been having trouble getting around in his older years so he sent in his protege Andra O'Neil. From the moment Nick laid eyes on her he was entranced. He loved everything about her.

-February 26, 2010-

The team arrived at their latest crime scene, an abandoned shack in the desert. There were three bodies, all women, under 30, bound, gagged, and killed in the same fashion. There was talk of these bodies being linked to unsolved cases in at least 5 other cities.

D.B. called nick over from where he was collecting evidence. "Hey Nick, this case may be bigger than we think."

"Yeah I heard. This guy has bodies all over the country."

"Exactly we had to call in help on this one."

"Who?" Nick asked, clearly confused.

"Dr. Armstrong form the university."

Nick smiled, "Oh the criminal profiler? I love that guy. He's got tons of great stories about cases he's worked on over the years and he's always willing to teach us about profiling. I've gone to a few of his lectures."

"So you know he's in a wheelchair these days."

"Yeah, how is he going to get around out here?"

"He's not. He's sending his protege. Andra O'neil."

Nick scowled, whenever you got the replacement it was a far cry from dealing with the real thing.

"She'll be here in half and hour, play nice."

Nick nodded and went back to his work.

Half an hour later an officer was calling his name "I'm over here," Nick answered.

"CSI Stokes this is Dr. Andra O'Neil. Dr. O'Neil, CSI Stokes will be your escort through the crime scene."

"Thank you officer." Andra smiled at the officer as he left.

'Damn she's pretty' Nick thought, this just got much easier. Nick took a moment to take her in, about 5'6", long brown hair although years of investigation taught him that it was not it's natural color well that and the perfectly placed highlights, large brown eyes, lightly tanned skin, tone body and her breasts well those just looked perfect... Nick unconsciously licked his lips as he looked her up and down one last time.

"Umm CSI Stokes..." Andra called to him snapping him out of his fantasy.

"What huh? Stokes, Nick Stokes." Nick had no idea what to say, he just hoped she hadn't caught him checking her out.

"Yes I'm aware." She smiled impishly, "Now if you're done checking me out we'll get to work."

'Damn' he thought, he was caught. "I, umm, sorry." He blushed trying to cover his tracks. "When D.B. told me that Dr. Armstrong was sending his protege I wasn't exactly expecting you."

"Ahh, you were expecting a slightly overweight man, mid-thirties, possibly balding, who would probably talk your ear off about how the next comic book convention coming to town." She chided him.

"Sort of," he confessed.

"Well CSI Stokes, when we put our assumptions aside we can be pleasantly surprised. Although I do sort of enjoy Comic-Con when I get a chance to go." She winked at him and started to walk toward the scene.

Nick quickly caught up with her. "Call me Nick."

"Alright Nick, call me Andra."

They worked that case for months, Nick loved his work but he never remembered LOVING a case. He walked into work everyday more excited than the last to work the case with Andra. He taught he about soil density and entomology and striation patterns and she taught him about criminal psychology and mental illness. Eventually over time their conversations became more relaxed and intimate and less work related. Nick was soon finding reasons to stop by Andra's office at the university, and asking her out for coffee.

The first time Nick stayed over at Andra's place almost ended in a calamity.

Nick had stayed over at Andra's and was feeling on top of the world, he walked into CSI with a smile on his face and a spring in his step, Greg of course noticed right away that his partner was even more chipper than usual.

"Hey Nick, what or should I say who has you so chipper today?" The younger CSI questioned.

Nick rolled his eyes knowing he was caught, "Can't a guy just be happy Greg?"

"Or you could just fess up."

"Get your mind out of the gutter Greg." Nick joked with him as they walked into D.B's office. Nick was stunned momentarily when he walked into D.B.'s office and saw Andra standing next to D.B. discussing evidence. He thought she was off today.

"Greg, Nick great. Dr. O'Neil was sharing some new findings with me."

"Go ahead Doc I'm all ears." Greg said with a smile.

Andra pointed to a series of pictures as she talked rather animatedly. "This guy is a predator. We've looked over the evidence and photos dozens of times but today I saw something different. I received the photos from Chicago, Dallas and New York this afternoon. The girls all have the same body positioning, I'm guessing L.A and Roswell will be the same. The liver temps until now have told us when the Las Vegas girls died, they died right to left, but due to them being strangled we were never sure if they were moved to their spots or if that's where they died. But if you look at these," she pointed to the three new pictures hanging on the wall. "Same body positioning, same order of death. He makes them watch one by one as he kills them off, the girl who dies last." Andra shook her head, "This guy isn't only a serial killer he's a sexual sadist. This guy not only has intimacy problems with women, he hates them, he wants them to die he wants them to suffer, he gets off on it, he craves it." She paused for a moment. "It's brilliant. And the last girl in every scene, has the same body type, facial features and hair. I'm guessing he's recreating some kind of scene from his childhood where he felt his mother helplessly watched as he and a sibling were abused physically and most likely sexually. So he makes her watch then kills her, she's the only one who has no signs of sexual assault. He wasn't interrupted or scared off like we thought earlier, he was punishing her for not protecting him, for not protecting them. With each killing he's gotten more violent but the M.O. remains the same. This isn't just killing, this is anger and hate and a lot of it, and we know he's not done here."

"So what do we do now?" Nick asked trying to remain professional.

Andra shrugged, "I only get you in his head, you guys do the rest. But we know he has a type, so I'd start with missing girls fitting that."

"Well Dr. that was very graphic and helpful." D.B. said.

"Yeah, that gives a whole new direction," Greg added.

"I hope we didn't keep you from any social engagements." D.B. stated.

"No actually, I have no plans tonight. I'll probably just turn in early and watch The Daily Show." She shot Nick a quick glance as she took a sip from her water bottle.

"What no boyfriend?" Greg tried to make a joke.

Andra nearly choked on the water her was drinking. "I um...I um... God Greg why do you have to ask weird questions?" Andra snapped at him. She really had no idea what to say at that point.

"That's a little personal don't you think Greg? Show the good doctor some respect." Nick stated in as neutral a tone as he could muster.

Greg held his hands up in defense, "Sorry I asked."

D.B. quickly scanned the scene and noticed there was something going on with Nick and the young doctor but decided to leave it alone, she's not a cop it's not his issue.

An awkward silence fell over the room.

"Well gentlemen I'm going to let you get back to work, I'll leave these pictures with you all. I have an early day tomorrow but feel free to call me on my work phone if you have any questions." Andra spoke quickly hoping to get out of there before she melted into the carpet. When she reached down to pick up her bag she winced a little.

"Hurt your back there doc?" D.B. asked.

Andra quickly grabbed the strap of her bag and threw it over her shoulder, exacerbating the pain. "Yeah I was moving furniture last night and really pulled something back there." She lied, she was doing something strenuous last night but it wasn't moving furniture.

Nick couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face, he remembered how she hurt her back that was a lot of fun.

Greg noticed the smirk and the look Nick gave the doctor and a light went off in his head 'Bingo!' he thought.

They all said their goodbyes and Nick and Greg went back to the lab.

"So how long?" Greg asked innocently.

"How long what?" Nick asked, completely confused.

"How long have you been seeing the doctor?" Greg asked with his knowing smirk. "Don't lie to me Nick it's written all over your face."

"Greg I'm just going to tell you this one time. Do not tell a person. We're being quiet about it."

"Alright, alright I got it. So you two..."

Nick knew he'd lost, "Yes, last night alright, now let it go."

Greg chuckled, "Moving furniture, ha!"

"Greg I'm serious."

"Alright, alright."

-2013-

Nick was finally allowed into Andra's room. He had seen a lot in his line of work, A LOT, but nothing prepares you for walking into find out a loved one in part of a crime scene.

He knocked softly on the door before walking in and as he did he saw her sitting up in bed with her arms wrapped around her legs, and her face on her knees. She was alert, innocent and vulnerable all at the same time. He walked closer, not thinking she heard him walk in, when he got to her bedside he lightly touched her shoulder, "Andra," he whispered."

She turned to look at him, he was hocked at what he saw, her face was bruised her lip was bloody, she had a black eye. Someone had a vendetta against him and took it out on her, they were going to pay.

"Nick." Was all she could say before she dissolved into tears before him.

And there he stood, holding her, quietly, letting her cry into his chest, not knowing what else to do or say, so he just held her.


	2. Chapter 2

The scene inside the hospital room was one D.B. had experienced countless times yet tonight it had a different feel an flavor, and he liked neither. He was used to these psychos going after cops but families, no that was out of bounds. "Hey Andra. How's it going?" D.B. asked the young woman, trying to make a little small talk.

She didn't answer him, she just narrowed her eyes and glared at him as if to say 'Are you fucking kidding me? How do you think it's going?' She was sitting up curled up in her bed with Nick still holding her protectively and rubbing her back.

"Right sorry, stupid question."

"They took my ring." She finally said, her voice was tired sounding and almost detached, she was looking far off across the room.

"Who took it?" D.B. questioned, was she attacked for her engagement ring? She did wear a lot of nice jewelry.

"The police. They took my engagement ring." She took her left hand out from beneath her blanket where she had been hiding it and showed Nick and D.B. "They said there was evidence on it. I want it back D.B." Her voice began to shake and she wiped at her eyes.

"We'll get your ring back dear. We need to process it as evidence and hold onto it for a little while first but I promise you'll get it back." He reassured her as best he could.

She nodded. "Thanks,"

Nick took her bare left hand in his, "Don't worry about the ring, you're more important than the ring."

She just snuggled in closer. "They took my clothes, and my necklaces, and my nose ring, and my shoes, they dug under my fingernails for evidence, and took cheek swabs, they asked me all kinds of questions and they looked everywhere for evidence, everywhere..." She trailed off, still fixated on the invisible spot across the room, her voice void of all emotion.

D.B. just nodded knowing not much could be said. "Is there anything we can get you or do for you?" He wasn't even sure she had heard him because she looked so far off.

"Can you get my cell phone, I left it back at the hotel. I want to call my No-No." No-No is what Andra and her siblings called their grandmother on their mom's side. No-No was Andra's safe person and secret keeper, she needed No-No right now! "No-No always knows what to do."

D.B. shook his head, "It's evidence."

"What about my work cell phone?" This was about to get futile.

"Was it in your purse?"

She nodded 'Yes'

"It's evidence."

"So my purse is evidence is what you're saying." Andra was annoyed.

"Pretty much. They said it had a lot of blood on it and some inside."

"I reached inside for my stun gun. I got him with my stun gun," She said with an almost etheral tone like she was remembering a fairytale.

Nick had been a CSI long enough, and had been with Andra long enough to know something was off, her tone and behavior were too inconsistent for her, she was about to snap.

"Yeah that's evidence too."

"At least I got to use it. So my Tory Burch is now blood covered evidence, along with everything inside." She said sarcastically. "Awesome." She rolled her eyes to punctuate her annoyance.

"What's a Tory Burch?" D.B. asked.

"A purse." Nick said off handedly.

D.B. put it together, he remembered once Nick complaining about Andra's shopping, something about a pair of $100 yoga pants and $300 heels. D.B. reminded Nick that women required maintenance the same way cars did so he needed to just give up that fight.

"We can't get you anything from the hotel until they're done processing it. But we can get you stuff from home."

She nodded sadly, she understood how this worked and she wasn't going to see her stuff for a long time, "Yeah, I need clothes, there's no way I'm staying in this gown tonight."

"I'll stay here with you, D.B. do you mind running to the house? Or I can call Greg."

"Honey no offense" Andra interrupted, "I love Greg and all but he is already way too comfortable and all and today is not the day to have him touching my underwear." There was an incident recently with Greg house/dog sitting for them and using their jacuzzi tub.

D.B. smiled, "I'll make the trip I don't mind."

They were interrupted briefly by the nurse, an older woman, late 40's, short, hispanic with short hair and a faint accent. "Time for your meds my dear."

"What this time Carla?" She asked as she looked down into the small plastic cup containing her latest round of meds. At least one looked like valium. "Is that valium?"

The nurse nodded 'yes,' "We have valium to help you relax and sleep and the PlanB you requested."

Nick's heart sank further knowing why she needed the PlanB, he knew it existed, he knew why it existed, he knew it was helpful for cases like this, he just never knew it would intersect with his life, not here, not now.

She shook her head 'no' and began to rock in her bed with her arms wrapped around her legs out of anger, frustration and anxiety. "I don't want to sleep, I can't sleep, no sleep for me." She protested. "I can't sleep, I can't close my eyes, I see bad things, I feel bad things."

"Take the pill." The nurse tried to reason with her, "It will make you feel better."

Still rocking. "I'm a psychologist, I have a PhD, I know mental health code and medical laws, I can refuse the valium." She was anxious and irritable and looking for a way to control the situation and doing a really bad job of hiding it. "I'm not sleeping!" Her eyes started to dart around the room manically like she was looking for a way out, she was trapped on all sides.

The nurse remained calm and soothing. "Dearie, you need to sleep. You've been through a lot tonight, be fair to your body and your mind, let them both rest.

Nick leaned down and whispered in her ear. "I'll be right here with you all night. Nothing's going to happen, I promise."

She gave up her fight, she was tired and beaten in so many ways. "Fine." She said through gritted teeth, she screwed her eyes shut as a tear slid down her cheek, she knew Carla was right and she knew Nick was being supportive and she knew she was being unreasonable and anxious but she just wanted everyone to shut the hell up and to go home, whenever the hell that was. "Can I have Gatorade, not water?" She asked the nurse.

"Red again?" The nurse asked.

"Yes please." She was still rocking and shaking.

The nurse quickly went about filling a cup with Gatorade and handed it to Andra.

Andra quickly threw back the pills and followed up with the Gatorade and swallowed both without thinking.

"Mouth check." The nurse prompted due to the valium Andra had just taken.

Andra mechanically opened her mouth and moved her tongue so the nurse could see she had in fact swallowed the pills.

"I'll leave you the rest of the bottle." The nurse gave Andra a smile as she left.

"Thanks Carla."

D.B. soon left in order to retrieve Andra her things for her overnight stay as a patient, they were keeping her for observation of her head wound, possible concussion, and the vast amount of medications they had to give her after being raped. She was not pleased, she was tired, and beaten up, and mentally and physically defeated and violated in all sorts of ways, and she just wanted to go home.

Nick stayed back with Andra while D.B. was gone. He sat in bed with her and held her while her Valium was supposed to be kicking in but he feared it wasn't because she was still rocking and holding onto herself and not noticing or talking to him at all. She was checked out and he did not blame her. It took over an hour and a needle full of thorazine for Andra to finally fall asleep, and the only reason they gave her that was because she started crying loudly and scratching at herself and ripped out an IV, there was blood everywhere. Nick called the nurses and they came running in and strapped her down, which agitated her more until they gave her the thorazine. Then she passed out.

Nick only had one thought on his mind, he was going to find whomever did this and he was going to kill them.


	3. Chapter 3

Andra was discharged into Nick's care the next afternoon. The drive home was quiet and tense, she just curled up in the passenger seat with her knees in her chest staring blankly out the window, her body ached, her head pounded. She wanted her sunglasses but forgot to ask for them last night, she was more grateful for her clothes anyway. She didn't know what she would have done if she had to discharge in scrubs, the yoga pants and long sleeved t-shirt D.B. had brought her were much more comforting. Her head was really pounding, she had a migraine and it was just getting worse, she knew she had medication for it at the house but the house was still 30 minutes away. She reached forward, trying to ignore the pounding behind her eyes and in her skull and rummaged around the glove box in Nick's pick-up hoping she had left a pair of sunglasses in there.

Nick noticed her movement and glanced over, "what are you looking for over there?"

"Sunglasses." She said softly, "Migraine."

"Here take these." Nick reached up and took the extra pair off his visor and handed them to her.

"Thanks," She took his Ray-Bans and put them on, he grinned because they were too big for her face but she didn't seem to mind. She just laid back in the seat and closed her eyes. Nick placed his right hand reassuringly on her knee, she flinched momentarily at the sudden contact but relaxed when she remembered it was Nick, she took his hand between her smaller two and entwined their fingers together for the rest of the ride.

Nick noticed her flinch, he pretended not to, he tried to pretend it wasn't a punch to the gut that a stranger did this to her, that someone was 'sending him a message' and decided to destroy his love. They would pay, but first he was here for her.

When they got into the house Andra stumbled into the bedroom and to her and Nick's bathroom and rummaged around for her migraine medication, and something for her anxiety that she had leftover from before, she'd need that to help sleep this migraine off. She took a pill and dove under the covers of their bed to sleep for the rest of the day. "Nicky!" She called from under her covers before drifting off to sleep.

"Yeah darlin'?" Nick asked as he popped into the room. He sat down on the bed next to her and moved the covers so he could see her face. "What's wrong?"

"Where are the dogs?"

Nick smiled, of course she'd be concerned about the dogs, "They're still at the sitter's remember?" They had to board the dogs for the weekend because Nick was working and Andra was supposed to be downtown all weekend with her girlfriends.

"Oh yeah." Then she fell asleep. He kissed her on the forehead and went about his daily routine.

Andra slept well into the next day, Nick checked in on her a few times to make sure she was still breathing, she was. She had woken up a few times to go to the bathroom or get something to drink but that was it, then back into her comforter cocoon, not talking, not watching tv, not eating. The last part worried Nick the most because he knew she was on powerful medication on top of the low dose of Zoloft she normally took. He knew eventually her body would feel the effects and she could end up back in the hospital and that was the last place she wanted to be.

Nick and Sarah had stopped over to discuss some of the details of the case with him and ask him a few questions since he would be off for awhile. They were sitting at the kitchen table talking and looking over some evidence, including the note that was left for Nick.

"So how are things here?" Greg asked.

Nick shrugged his shoulders and looked around, "Quiet. I almost forgot to pick the dogs up from the sitter's today." He reached down and petted the pointer mix sitting next to him.

"I love watching BoBo and Patches. Why didn't you just ask me?" Greg asked.

"Umm, yeah about that Greg. Andra doesn't want you left alone in the house anymore." Nick said with a chuckle.

"She's still sore about that? It was one time like six months ago."

"It was our private jacuzzi tub, in our bathroom and you were naked. We have guest bedrooms and bathrooms for a reason Greg." Nick tried to explain for the hundredth time.

Greg ducked his head and smiled like a kid caught in his parents liquor cabinet, "How long am I grounded for?"

"She gets to decide."

"Aside from that how else are things?" Sarah asked gently.

"She's been sleeping since we got home and the few minutes she is up she isn't talking just taking more pills to numb out and go back to sleep. The night she spent in the hospital she had a massive panic attack, I've only seen her have one panic attack before and this was a hundred times worse, she was screaming and crying and shaking and she ripped out her IV because she was scratching at herself so badly, there was blood everywhere. They had to strap her down and give her a shot to get her to calm down. It's the scariest thing i've ever seen a person go through. I don't blame her for numbing out with medication and sleep but I'm worried as hell about her."

"D.B. told us she was pretty shaken up still when you two arrived and he told us it got pretty bad after he left. Nick we had no idea..." Sarah trailed off.

"It's okay. We're getting married, I guess this is just part of our deal." Nick said rubbing his hands together.

"Have you ever talked to her about some of the stuff you've been through on the job? It might help her open up." Greg tried to help.

He nodded. "She knows Greg. We've had long talks about the job and it's effects on our lives and the possibility of kids and it's not like she was going into this blind either, her dad's a Cook County Sheriff and her brothers are both Chicago Cops she knows the job. Mostly we discussed what would happen if I got hurt or killed. This scenario right here never came up. Her getting hurt because of me never came up. This is a game changer. We both know it." Nick looked sad and beaten, Sarah and Greg hadn't seen him like this in a long time, not since Warrick died.

"Do you think she's gonna run?" Greg asked suddenly scared for his long time friend and partner. He had always looked up to Nick, admired him like the older brother he never had. He knew behind the swagger and fading Texas accent there lay a true blue All-American cowboy who still wanted to ride into the sunset with his bride. If he lost that because of some psycho, Greg would make sure that person paid dearly.

"She'd have to get out of bed first." Nick said sadly.

"We'll find this guy Nick." Sara tried to reassure him.

Nick nodded, hoping they were right. "So what's in the box?"

"Evidence." Greg said as he unloaded the box in front of him.

"These photos aren't from the Bellagio Greg, you took the wrong box." Nick said to the younger CSI, he couldn't believe Greg made a rookie mistake.

"Au Contraire." Greg corrected. "The homicide from the other night, was the perpetrator in Andra's case. His DNA was all over her."

Sarah shot him a look.

"Sorry."

Nick couldn't believe what he was looking at. The picture in front of him, that was him, that was the man who did all of this, all of this damage was his fault! "So he rapes Andra and is found dead an hour later behind The Palomino Club. Something's not right. It's too easy. What are these scratches all over his face?"

"That's where Andra fought him, she got him really good with her engagement ring, right cross the face, she fought hard Nick. He's got bruises and a strange burn mark." Sarah offered.

"Yeah she said they took the ring for evidence, she's still pissed about it. She said she got him with her stun gun."

"Yeah she got him good too, burnt a hole in his shirt." Greg said with a smile, as painful as this all was he really was proud of her for fighting the bastard off like she did "Here are more pictures." They were pictures of the man entering the hotel suite, then 30 minutes later Andra entering the suite alone with a drink in her hand, then the man leaving.

"I read her statement she said she returned to her room between dinner and going to the show because her stomach hurt and she was looking for something to settle it. She could have been set up." Sarah offered. "It happens a lot here.

"She threw up a lot at the hospital before you got there, we're still waiting on the analysis of her stomach contents. Hopefully that will help us out." Greg added.

"She has a sensitive stomach and food allergies, but she knows what she can and can't eat. She had to be set up." Nick added, "It's the only reason she'd go back to the hotel room alone. She and her girlfriends from college get together once a year, this year they chose Vegas, they had the entire weekend planned. There's no way she was going to leave the group without a reason. Do we know who this guy is?"

Greg took a deep breath before delivering this bit of news. "That's part of the problem. His hands were cut off. We have DNA to link him to the crime but no fingerprints."

"So this was definitely a set up." Nick deduced.

"Yeah someone is sending you a message." Greg reached into the box and took out the note that was left at the hotel for Nick, it had some blood on it and very few words, you could tell it had been in a fight. It only had six words on it, 'I'll be seeing you Mr. Stokes.'

"So what we're looking at old cases again? Seeing who has it out for me."

"Possibly, or ex-lovers. It could be someone who is obsessed with her and looking to hurt you or both of you." Sarah said hoping something would stick.

"Why would someone obsessed with her want to hurt me?" Nick asked incredulously.

"We have to look at all possibilities Nick. And it's not like she doesn't have her fair share of super fans given the nature of her work." Sarah defended herself.

"True, very true." Nick reluctantly agreed. Working in mental health and now working closer with the crime lab in criminology she had definitely attracted her own fan base, there was even a FaceBook page dedicated to her that the guys in cyber crime closely monitored. "Check that FaceBook page about her, see if it give you any leads."

"We did. They only care about her next lecture." Greg said.

They were interrupted by the sound of shuffling feet in the kitchen next to them, they all looked over and saw Andra slowly making her way to the sink to get a glass of water. She was wearing white knee socks, one of Nick's L.V.P.D. t-shirts which came down to her knees, a pair of sunglasses, and her hair was hanging in her face. She took a long drink of water before saying anything, "Don't mind me, pleasse continue discusssing me as if I'm not home." Andra said dryly, she was still annoyed with being talked about like a 'case' or 'victim' instead of a real live human being with thoughts and feelings just a few rooms over. The cops did that shit, Nick was supposed to know better.

"Hey Andra how's it going?" Sarah asked with a small smile.

Andra took off the over sized sunglasses she had been wearing to shield her eyes from any light and to keep her from seeing the bruising and scratches on her own face and put them on top of her head pulling her hair back from her face with them as well. Greg and Sarah got the full effect of the damage to Andra's face. The swelling had gone down but both of her eyes were black, her nose was black and blue, possibly broken, she had superficial abrasions on her cheeks, her bottom lip was cracked scabbed from being hit in the mouth, her cheeks we're bruised, her eyes were red and blood shot from the combination of her migraine and crying. Andra saw both Greg and Sarah's mouth's involuntarily fall open and their eyes bug out. "Yeah that'ss how it'ss going. If you want to follow me to the bedroom I can show you the rest of the bruisesss." She pulled the sunglasses back down over her eyes and shuffled back out of the room, her speech was slurred due to the medication she was taking.

"No-No called for you." Nick said as she passed by him. "She said if you don't call back by tomorrow she's going to fly out here and stuff you full of latkes and matzo ball soup."

"You didn't tell her?" She asked with a small smile, thankful for the gesture.

"Nope. She's your No-No, it's your choice."

"I'll call her tomorrow. She'll probably still come out here to take care of uss."

"That's fine. I love her cooking." Nick smiled and got back to work with Sarah and Greg who were still reeling from their encounter with her.

"What was that?" Greg asked.

"I don't know." Nick answered. "She's somewhat okay with me, other people she's not too happy with right now."

"Clearly, and she's walking around here like The Grudge. How much valium is she on?"

"I have no clue. Let's get back to this case. I'll worry about her." Truthfully Nick was worried as ever about his fiancee and he did not know what to do or who to turn to.

Sarah and Greg stayed well into the night and they still had no leads, just a dead body with no hands. Nick slid into bed next to Andra and studied her, she wasn't sleeping she was passed out, medicated, drugged to be able to sleep through the night. She was having nightmares, he knew it, she tossed and turned all night and even during the say when she slept, but she didn't scream out like at the hospital. He needed to get her lucid enough to talk to once again, he needed her back, this was not going to do. He needed her in fighting shape because he had a feeling this case was going to go on for a long time. He slid the sunglasses off her face and put them on the nightstand next to the bed. He noticed the bottle of Valium on the nightstand as well and thought about taking it and hiding it, then he thought better of it, he did count out the pills though and found she had only been taking two a day but he also knew they were strong and she normally did not take them, that all on top of the not eating just made him worry. He put the bottle back and gathered her into his arms. Surprisingly she nestled into his embrace and even clung to him as she slept, something was going on something she was scared to tell him and he needed to figure out what. But for now he just held her and enjoyed the moment, maybe she'd open up to him tomorrow, maybe...


	4. Chapter 4

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The next morning Nick made a large breakfast for the two of them, he figured the best way to trick someone into eating was with food. He made coffee, scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage and bacon. Andra always joked that she was only half Jewish, Russian-Jewish to be exact, so she only had to keep Kosher on high holidays. The other half was Irish-Catholic and that was another story entirely. Nick was getting hungry looking at all the food he had made, he hoped the smell of coffee and sausages was enough to wake Andra from her drug induced coma as it was nearly 11am.

As if on cue Andra came stumbling sleepily into the kitchen, rubbing her bruised eye with one hand and scratching her head with the other. " Wha's all thiss." She slurred a bit in her sleepy haze.

"This, darlin', is breakfast. You've missed it the last few days." Nick said with a wink as he flipped the last sausage onto a plate and turned the burner off.

Andra gave him a small smile in return, she really was touched by his gesture, she just didn't want him making more of a fuss over her than necessary. She just wanted to pretend things were normal. "Nicky you didn't have to do that. Coffee and fruit would have been fine." She protested, she really didn't want him to fret over her, she didn't want him to have to put in any extra work on her behalf, she didn't want to be a nuisance.

"I know I didn't have to, I wanted to. Now hurry up and grab the coffee before everything gets cold. We're eating out on the patio." He gave her a peck on the forehead as he passed by her with two plates full of food.

She looked to outside and saw the patio table was fully set-up for breakfast and juice and pancakes were already waiting for them. She smiled as she grabbed the coffee pot and two mugs and followed him outside. Her heart fluttered a little thinking she was wrong, she wasn't going to lose him. Maybe this terrible thing hadn't destroyed her life after all. "Nick this is Vegas it doesn't get cold here. Not in the conventional sense anyway." She argued their normal banter with him as she stepped out onto the patio on into the Sunday morning sun. It was a sunny October morning, the thermometer had just reached around eighty-five degrees. She was quite comfortable in her sleepwear of knee socks and Nick's t-shirt, which was way too big for her.

"I'm not from Chicago like you, I don't think anything between fifty and thirty-five degrees is sweatshirt weather." He teased her.

"Oh not this again, the big bad Texas cowboy can't take a little Chicago winter." She teased him.

"You and your brothers tricked me, 'No Nick it's not too cold a North Face will be fine'." He mocked her. "I nearly froze to death on Michigan Avenue looking at those Christmas windows with your family." He said with mock indignation.

She rolled her eyes at him, "What did you want an Ushanka and a fur coat? Besides, like we would have let you die, not at Christmakah. And a North Face was all you needed, it was barely in the thirties, it's not our fault you have thin blood." She stuck her tongue out at him as she took a sip of her coffee.

He was glad to get a real conversation out of her. He had been missing that for the last two days, it made him feel good inside to have it back. "Here have some eggs, you need protein to keep your strength up. And some pancakes." Nick reached across the table and loaded Andra's plate up with everything much to her dismay.

She looked down at the plate in horror, the plate contained more food than she had eaten in the last 72 hours, "Babe you know I'm allergic to wheat and dairy."

"I know, that's why I made those special pancakes without wheat or dairy." Nick countered, he knew her tricks when she was stressed and didn't want food. She smiled and took a few tentative bites of egg. Nick watched her closely, no one took that long to eat eggs. "Something wrong?" He asked concerned.

She put the fork down defeated and hung her head, "Nick you know how I get. This is part of the package. When I get stressed out I get all anxious and my stomach gets messed up and I can't eat. Right now I would say it's justified, wouldn't you?"

"Right now I need you to eat. I can't have you getting sick or passing out or having another massive panic attack because you're internalizing all this. Mostly I need you to do this because this case can go on for a long time, years even and I can't have you on a hunger strike for years." He was almost begging her. "Please, for me." One of the things he admired most about Andra was her drive, her competitive spirit, and her want to do more, and be more and be great. It's what allowed her to keep her mind open, listen without judgement and learn more everyday. But in the end he also hated that part just a little because on the other side of the coin was the part that also allowed her to tell herself that she was not enough and she would never be enough and she would never measure up to anyone's expectations of her, especially her own and that everything she had built for herself would come crumbling down around her at any moment. Usually that part was kept under control, Andra was usually able to strike a balance within herself, keep the coin balanced on it's edge so to speak. But once in awhile when things got bad or something unexpected or stressful happened the dark part reared it's ugly head and it took over and did it's best to destroy the beautiful things about Andra, Nick hated the dark part. Nick hated the person who unleashed the dark part two nights ago even more right now.

"I can try." She whispered the concession quietly. She took another forkful of eggs and a few bites of sausage.

"Feel better?" Nick asked.

She nodded. "A little. I might actually be hungry." She said with a smile as she cut a pancake with the side of her fork.

"Good." Nick said with a smile.

They finished their breakfast and were sitting out in their yard enjoying the late morning sky when the dogs who had previously been playing in the far part of their 2 acre yard came running back toward them, they stopped where they were and sat with their 'kill'

"Hey boys what did you find there?" Nick asked noticing that Patches the Pointer Mix and larger of the two dogs had something in his mouth, probably a rabbit, and both dogs were full of dirt. "Great they need a bath."

"Let's just get the whimpering and squirming out of the way. You grab Patches I'll grab BoBo." BoBo was a cocker spaniel, beagle mix and much easier for Andra lift that Patches.

"Patches, BoBo come here boys!" Nick called the dogs letting out a whistle letting the dogs know it was time to go in.

The two happy dogs came running up to their owners hoping to get some praise for their find.

"Hey boys what do you have there?" Nick asked noticing something dark and dirty hanging out go Patches' mouth. "Patches drop it." Nick held his hand out. Patches didn't drop it, he held onto it and growled as nick tried to grab it from him, "Patches give." Nick tried one more time.

Andra saw this was going nowhere and decided to break their 'no table food for the dogs' rule and grabbed a sausage and walked over to the dogs. "Patches come here." patches turned around and happily dropped his 'Kill' into her hand in exchange for the tasty sausage. The dogs ran off leaving Andra gasping in horror, "OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD! NICK!"

"What's wrong?" Nick asked concerned, he looked down to what she was holding and realized what was wrong.

"I**T'S A HAND**!" She screamed as she threw the hand on the table, causing it to spill and break the pitcher of orange juice and land in a juicy plate of eggs and collapsed onto the ground trembling and crying, "It's a hand."

Nick looked at the dirt covered hand, cut off at the wrist, now resting on his patio table in a pool of eggs and orange juice and realized that someone was in fact stalking him and had been to his house. "He was here." He whispered to himself. "He was here." Nick called the lab about the hand before attending to his shaken fiancee. He knelt down and gathered her into his arms, "It's okay, it's okay. I'm here. You're safe."

"No we're not Nick." She said sadly as she cried into his chest. "He was here."


	5. Chapter 5

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Nick surveyed the scene in his backyard with his arms crossed over his chest, a keen eye and a glare, all hidden behind his sunglasses. He didn't like this one-damn-bit! He should be out there collecting evidence and processing the scene, not standing on the sidelines. He felt useless, unnecessary and most of all helpless. He hated the last part most of all. He watched as some new recruits and detectives trampled through Andra's carefully planted flowerbeds, and some guys from day shift looking at his house, taking pictures, making comparisons to their own homes. He had even overheard a few of them conversing privately, or what they thought was in private, "How did Stokes afford this place? This neighborhood is pretty expensive even for a guy in his pay grade. And did you see the garage? A Mustang, A Mercedes, an F-150 SuperCrew and a Harley Davidson." One said. "I dunno. He's marrying that Doc from UNLV, maybe she's loaded, she's stacked so he'd just be doubly lucky." The first chuckled then responded, "Or he's secretly a trust fund kid. You saw her ring in processing right? It's 2 karats minimum." That pissed Nick off, it was no one's business how they afforded the house, or anything else and it certainly was not going to help to speculate.

Brass walked up to Nick who was brooding on his patio. "Hey Nick. I know this feels like an invasion of your privacy. We'll be in and out as soon as possible." He tried to comfort his CSI.

"It's not that Brass. Take all the time and evidence you need. I just don't like being on this side of things. I want to get out there and do the work." Nick said, never taking his eyes off of the scene in his backyard.

"I know Nick, I know. But the most help you can be right now is to stand off to the side and let us do the job. You know if you touch this case all the evidence will be challenged in court if not thrown out. We're gonna catch this bastard."

"I know Brass. It's just this is not my idea of a productive use of my time."

"Well D.B. called and he wants me to bring you and Andra down asap. I told him to wait until we're done here."

"Thanks Brass. Where is she?"

"Detective Lacey took her inside to process her and let her change. She did pretty well considering..."

"Yeah, she's doing pretty well for now. But for how long? Today was the first time she got out of bed in days, now this. She's gonna snap Brass." He didn't voice his real concern, 'She's gonna leave.'

"And you?" Brass asked, concerned for younger man.

Nick shrugged. "I'll be fine. I've been through worse and I'm still here."

"That's what I'm worried about. This guy whoever he is, he's really going for the throat. He went after her, he's going after your house now, your personal life. He's trying to destroy you Nick."

"Well I'll be ready when he comes callin'."

They were broken away from their conversation by one of the CSIs in the backyard. "Detective Brass, we found something." One of the new recruits came running up to them and beckoned him to follow them. They followed all the way to the farthest part of the property, where no one had been for a few weeks, and saw what caused all the excitement. Another hand was found buried a few feet below the ground and it was clutching something, something personal.

Down at the station D.B. had more grim news for the couple. D.B. was leaning against his desk with his arms across his chest. Ecklie was standing next to him with a neutral look on his face. Nick felt like he had been called to the principal's office for doing something wrong, but he just sat on the couch arm as usual, Andra preferred to stay standing next to him, this was a 4 way standoff.

"I know you don't want to hear this Nick but were putting protection on you." D.B. said seriously.

"Oh come on! That's such a waste of time and money. I'm a cop I can protect myself!" Nick argued with his boss. This was REALLY pissing him off now.

"That's right Nick you are but she's not!" Ecklie argued back pointing toward Andra. "You're both getting protection. I'm not going to lose one of my best to some whacko with a fetish and I'm certainly not going to be liable for losing a civilian, especially one that works for us."

"I work for the University Ecklie. You borrow me. Don't forget it!" Andra didn't think there was much merit or need for her argument, she was just tired of feeling like a piece of furniture. "I've saved your ass more than once."

"Oh that's what this is about Ecklie, your precious P.R.!" Nick yelled.

"Is everyone done!" D.B. shouted shocking everyone in the room into silence, he looked around noticing everyone was quietly glaring at one another. "Good. Now like I said Nick, you're getting 24 hour protection detail. I'm allowing you to come work in the lab because we have a backlog of old cases that we need evidence processed on. Only old cases." He stressed the last part. "If you touch this case you're suspended. Got it?"

Nick rolled his eyes, "Yeah I got it."

"And Andra I'm sorry it stinks but you especially need protection. This guy has alreadt hurt you once. I won't allow it to happen again. Not on my watch." Even Nick couldn't argue with that "You'll both have cars tailing you whenever you drive somewhere. If you try and slip them or wander off I'll make you ride with them I swear to God." He looked directly at Andra.

"Why are you looking at me?" She asked feeling put on the spot.

"Because I have your driving record on my computer. You were pulled over 5 times for speeding last year. You're lucky those cops know us."

She smirked. "I carry Nick's card in my purse. They're understanding after that."

Nick looked at her in shock, what else was she keeping from him? "Five times!" He exclaimed.

Her smirk morphed into a full smile and she waved him off, "Don't worry about it."

"Anyway!" D.B. steered the conversation back on topic. "And you will both have body men at work as well. I don't want to hear any arguments from anyone." D.B. said in a tone that meant 'this is final.'

"One problem D.B." Andra said sheepishly. "Glen Creek."

"What about it?" D.B. asked.

"I don't work only with the crime lab, it's just part of my job with the University. I still work with their program out of Glen Creek rehab facility."

"That posh place up in the hills?" Ecklie asked.

"Yes." Andra said snarkily. "I'm head of a program that is funded through UNLV. We provide the payment for treatment for families who cannot afford it otherwise due to circumstances and we get to use the records and do yearly followups with them as part of a research project based on treatment efficacy versus rates of relapse compared to the population as a whole. It's my baby! I've been working on it for 5 years."

"So why is you having protection a problem?" D.B. asked.

"All of those particular patients have to have a therapist from UNLV. Needless to say I have a sizable caseload there. Having cops on the grounds will definitely cause a bit of a ruckus. They're kind of picky about who they allow on the grounds."

D.B. nodded in understanding, "When are you returning to work?"

"Two or three weeks. I'll clear it with Armstrong later."

"Well I'll make sure the days you're at Glen Creek you have female officers." D.B. stated hoping to placate her.

"Yeah I'll run it by Dr. Armstrong." She conceded.

"He already agreed to the officers I'll just update him with the changes." D.B. answered.

"You already called him. Great." Andra said annoyed, she did not like this police work infringing on her life. "That means he'll be calling me soon. Oh wait Greg still has my phones."

"We're working on getting your stuff back. At least the unnecessary pieces. Any thing else?" They both shook their heads 'No.' "Good because greg needs to see us in the lab."

They followed D.B. to the lab where Greg was hard at work processing evidence related to the case. "Hey guys." Greg said cheerfully. "Andra I have great news for you. I can release all of your non-essential belongings from the hotel." He pointed to a pile of shopping bags and luggage on the back counter. "Which will be helpful because it takes up a lot of space in here. We're working on mailing your friends belongings to their homes."

Nick's eyes grew wide at the amount of shopping bags he saw. "Looks like someone did some damage at the mall."

She shot him a glare.

"Anyway. I was able to get fingerprints from your hotel room and match them to the hands found in your backyard."

"So it's the same guy?" D.B. asked looking for confirmation.

"Yeah, but the question remains. Who buried our perps hands in the backyard? And how are they connected?"

"Is he in CODUS?" Nick asked.

"Nope." Greg shook his head. "But we're going to try facial recognition and see if that gets us any hits, if not we'll try Google images. Also we found this clutched in our dead guys hands." He held up a small evidence bag with a gold celtic criss in it. "Is it yours?" He asked Andra.

"No I have mine." She held her hand out. "May I see that?"

"Sure just leave it in the bag, I need to dust it for prints."

Andra took the bag carefully and studied the cross. "I know who this belongs to. But how?..." She trailed off. "How?"

"Who's is it?" Nick asked.

"It's B's." She said, as if everyone would know who she was talking about.

"B. B who?" D.B. asked.

"Beatrice James." She got a nostalgic look on her face. "When I first came out here to attend UNLV I was working at Glen Creek as a staffer, before I moved up and on. She would leave this somewhere around the dorms when she needed someone to talk to. On a couch or a table, somewhere visible. One day I found her cross but couldn't find her and when I did... Her boyfriend had sent her a package a few days before, it had one of those Build-A-Bears in it. Whoever checked it missed the stitching under the little shirt. It had a balloon of heroin and everything else she needed to get high, in rehab. She had popped the lock on her bathroom door and I found her in the shower curled up in the tub with a belt tied around her arm crying. I called for backup but they were too slow. She became enraged and thought I was trying to steal her drugs form her. She stabbed me in the scapula, broke the needle off right in the bone." She unconsciously reached up and stroked the area, "I had to have plastic surgery because of the surgeries."

"So how did her cross necklace end up buried in your backyard?" Greg asked.

"I dunno." Andra shrugged. "She was kicked out and bounced around rehab centers for awhile from what I heard." Andra stopped. "Wait, shit. I ran into her a few weeks ago in Whole Foods, she thanked me for her time at The Creek. She's living in Vegas now. She works the front desk at one of the hotels."

"Which one?" D.B. asked.

She ran her hands through her hair. "I forget. There's so many of them. I was just shocked that she's here. I think Planet Hollywood."

"Alright Greg call Planet Hollywood and ask if they have any missing employees fitting B's description and then run that cross for any fingerprints."

As if on cue Anrad's cell phone began to ring from across the room. Greg handed both of them to her, they were cleaned off and shiny like Greg had taken a lot of time scrubbing them clean of any memories of that terrible night.

"Here take them both." Greg said as he handed her the devices. "They have been blowing up all weekend and I can't decide which is more annoying the one that rings or the one that vibrates."

Andra smiled as she took her phones back. "Hello?" she answered the work one, already seeing Dr. Armstrong's name on the screen. Her tone quickly chanced from chipper to concerned to downright upset. "Uh huh...Wait why? I assure you all I need is a few weeks off, this is unnecessary...No...Fine...What time?...Do I need to wear a suit?...Umhm...Goodbye." She hung up the phone and let out a great sigh.

"What was that about?" Nick asked concerned for her.

"I have an 8a.m. meeting with my department heads and Dr. Armstrong tomorrow to decide if I am in the right frame of mind to return to work anytime soon. Basically I'm being forced into a temporary leave of absence with pay."

"For how long?"

"That's what they will decide tomorrow." She wiped a tear that threatened to escape her eyes. "My position is one of the most coveted at the University. There will be people lining up to take over."

"Why is your job so glamorous? It's just a University position." Greg asked confused.

"Because I don't teach. I specifically do research and generate donor money. That's it, no students. I work on my projects and I come and go as I please as long as the work is getting done and the money is coming in. That's why I'm allowed to work with the crime lab. I have the unicorn of university positions and I'm going to lose it." She shook her head sadly. "I want to go home." She turned and left the lab. She was going to lose her job because of this lab and she didn't want to be in it anymore.

Nick couldn't help the hate and rage that was boiling inside of him. This guy was going through her to get to him and it was taking it's toll on them both. His plan was working and Nick was not going to let him succeed.


	6. Chapter 6

Please Read and review, it means a lot.

The next day Nick was happy to be back at work in the lab even if it was working on the backlog and not what he really wanted to do, but he was distracted at the same time. He kept checking his cell phone for missed calls or texts from Andra but there were none. He had taken to leaving the phone on his work table just so he would be sure not to miss her call. He would periodically poke his head in and see what Greg had found out, still not much, it took a long time to run facial recognition data and they were still trying to locate B. He was also worried about Andra, they hadn't spoken since that morning and even then they were arguing. They were both stressed and upset and she was not happy about going in for her meeting. She was trying to put on make-up to cover her face and not succeeding and she just lashed out at him. Bits of the argument played over in his head.

_"Why don't you just come out and say it!" She yelled._

_"Say what?" He yelled back._

_"I'm hideous and you can't stand to look at me! Well you know what this is YOUR FAULT!"_

**_"GREAT IT'S MY FAULT, EVERYTHING FROM NOW UNTIL THE END OF TIME CAN BE MY FAULT! EVERY TIME YOU'RE UNHAPPY UNTIL WE BOTH DIE IT CAN BE MY FAULT! WE LIVE IN VEGAS IT WAS A STUPID TRIP! AND HOW MUCH MONEY DID YOU SPEND THIS WEEKEND ANYWAY!" _**

_He didn't do what she wanted, he didn't tell her that she's still beautiful, she was terrified. _**_ "WE DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MONEY SO DON'T ASK!" _**_She slammed the bathroom door in his face and continued to apply her makeup in silence. When she opened it a few minutes later, after finishing and deciding on sunglasses and a hat with a big brim to finish the outfit. "You know what you won't have to worry about me or my shopping for awhile!"_

_"Oh yeah. Why?" Nick asked, still mad at her._

_"Because after my meeting today I'm booking myself on the first flight to Chicago and the hell away from you and this damn city!" She grabbed her bag and car keys and slammed the bedroom door shut behind her leaving Nick reeling. She _

_was going to leave him, all because of something he couldn't control._

He was so ashamed of the way he acted and upset by the argument that he didn't hear the knock on his door.

"Hey there." Sarah greeted her long time partner and friend unknowingly startling him out of his concentration.

Nick was startled. "Jeeze Sarah, warn a guy before you come barging into a room." Nick said a little harshly while he looked up from the blood evidence he was processing.

"I knocked, you didn't answer." She defended herself.

"Oh, sorry." Nick gave his half-smile, he was caught.

"You doing okay?" She asked, concerned for him.

"As good as I can I guess. I got into it with Andra this morning. We both said some things. I said some harsh things. She threatened to leave." He admitted, embarrassed of his actions.

She put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him like she had ons of times before, "Look Nick you're both under a lot of stress right now. You need to take it easy on yourself and remind her of that too. You're one of the good ones, don't let this guy mess it up."

"Thanks Sarah," He patted her hand, the way he always had. "So what's up?"

"Oh, this came for you today. It was delivered to me by mistake." She handed him a large manila envelope with his name printed on it.

Nick took the envelope and studied it for a minute, turning it over in his hands and looking at the seals, "Hey Sarah, did you see this?" He pointed to the front, the return address on the envelope was his own home address.

"Well that's odd." She said with a nod. "Open it up."

"Something tells me this is more than just an envelope. Let's get Greg in here and I'll let you two open it. I don't want to be accused of tampering." He put the envelope down and put on a new pair of gloves before summoning Greg over.

They took photos of the envelope sealed before carefully slicing it open with a letter opened. What they found inside was shocking. "Umm Nick, your stalker just took it up a level." Greg said as he carefully took out a stack of photos and a letter to Nick.

The photos were of Nick and Andra both together and separately, some of them were even of them on trips to see their families, some photos were more personal and intimate in nature than others. He recognized one from the Cowboys/Bears game they went to in Chicago a few weeks ago, Nick was the only one wearing a Cowboys Jersey among Andra and four others from her family in their Bears gear, a few from last Christmas in Chicago while they were walking through the neighborhood looking at the lights, some were from as late as this weekend, some were of Andra at work, some were of Nick on cases. There was a flash drive in there as well but that would have to be sent to the lab for analysis, Nick couldn't go through it without contaminating the evidence. This person had been at it for a lot longer than anyone knew. The letter was just as disturbing 'I see you Mr. Stokes but you can't see me.'

Nick shook his head. "We need to call Brass." Nick placed a quick call to Brass and one to D.B. telling them of this new development. Both men were quite concerned.

Greg nervously ran a hand through his spiked hair. "Umm Nick this may not be the best time to tell you but we have some movement one the DNA from our perp."

"Greg no time is going to be a good time from now on so you may as well tell me." Nick tried to sound reassuring and not annoyed.

"Well I wasn't having any luck with the conventional methods so I decided to run his DNA against old cases. See if he has any family members we're familiar with that can give us any clues." Greg stopped to gather himself, this was going to hurt NIck a lot and that's not what he was trying to do.

"And?"

Greg opened the file he had brought in with him. "He has alleles in common with two old cases." He cleared his throat before going on. "Walter Gordon and Kelly Gordon. They are consistent with being a sibling of Kelly's and Walter's son. I ran the fingerprints against the FBI database, they came up with a set from 1994. The sets they take in kindergarten, belonging to a Kevin Gordon. I'm having everything form the Gordon cases brought back up here so we can go through it."

This time Nick had to take a breath and a seat. He collapsed against his stool. "No it has to be wrong, run it again!" He ordered the younger man. Not this case, not again, anything but this case.

"Nick I ran it four times." Greg said sheepishly, "I'm sorry." Greg closed the folder and stood in silence.

"No Greg man it's not your fault. You did great. You gave us something." Nick tried to reassure his friend.

"Really Greg you gave us a direction. We know where to start looking now." Sarah added. "We know what we could be dealing with."

Nick send Andra a quick text, 'I know you're mad at me. Meet me at the lab, it's important.'

A little over an hour later Andra came into the lab and found Nick hard at work. She leaned against the doorframe and smiled as she watched him doing some kind of fiber analysis, unbeknown to him. She reached over and knocked heavily on the door, shocking him out of his work haze. "Hey," She said with a half-smile as he looked up to see her. "I got your text." She held her phone up as proof.

"Hey, how'd your meeting go?" Nick noted the time and guessed not good.

She shrugged with a sad look on her face. "Four months minimum, and I have to get a release from my therapist before going back to work. To 'prove' I'm stable." She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "My research and cases have all been distributed to others for the time being. This is so demeaning and demoralizing and I am just pissed off Nick!" She ranted, "Oh and you guys have the great pleasure of working with Neil in my absence. Freakin' Neil. He's been aggressively after my job for years Nick."

Nick stood up and gathered her in his arms knowing that that morning's fight was a thing of the past for them both, "Hey it'll be okay. They can never replace you. Besides I've been to enough of your work functions to know everyone here will hate Neil."

She couldn't help but laugh, it was true, "Everyone hates Neil."

Nick took her to Greg's lab and they shared the news with her of what he found.

"So this case, this Gordon case. It's coming back again." Andra tried to wrap her mind around the importance of the news just given to her. "Isn't Walter Gordon the one who..." She trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence, not wanting to invite the memory of Nick being sealed in a box into the room.

"Yeah that's the one." Nick finished for her. He was clenching his fists and his jaw began to tick in his anxiety.

"And this guy, this stalker he killed the Gordon kid who attacked me friday night. And he's been stalking us for months." She motioned to the pictures that Greg had hanging in the lab as she was trying to understand everything laid out in front of her.

"About a year actually, Nick was able to Identify pictures from last Christmas." Greg said as he pointed to a picture of them at Christmas last year. He had lost Andra's attention though, she was wandering through the lab looking at her life in pictures through a mad man's eyes.

She pointed out the pictures to Greg as she went down the line, "These are from this weekend, this is from the 4th of July we took a long weekend and went to San Diego, this is from Nick's birthday, and this.." She stopped. "Gregory! Take this down!" She grabbed for a picture of herself that she didn't want anyone to see.

Greg ran over to stop her and grabbed it first. "It's evidence!" He argued.

"It's pornography! How is a picture of me in lingerie going to help this case?" She argued with him.

Greg looked betweek her and Nick, Nick nodded toward Greg. "Fine I'll put it with the others."

"**_Others_**?" She asked with more interest. "What others? Greg, Nick don't lie to me!"

"There were other pictures of a slightly more sensitive nature." Greg tried to dance around the subject.

"How sensitive?" She asked, het tone growing hostile with the two men.

"Quite sensitive." Nick said trying to calm her down. "We won't let anyone here see them."

"Sex pictures," She hissed, "This psycho took pictures of us having sex!" She was indignant. "What do we do now?" She asked as the weight of the situation hit her full on.

"We keep doing what we've been doing." Greg said. "Sometimes part of the job is waiting."

She took a deep breath trying to gather herself, this week really was not going well while the anxiety inside her grew.

"Did you get any information from Planet Hollywood?" She asked while fidgeting with her fingers, she was concerned for B's safety.

"Sorry No, they don't have anyone there with that name or with that description. But we have calls out to all of the hotels in the area."

Andra nodded, still anxious.

"Thanks man, you did a great job." Nick told Greg as he walked Andra out of the room.

"Anytime man." Greg returned.

Nick took her hand and slipped into a corridor with her. "Let's slip out of here for a few hours and get some food. I'm starving." Nick needed to get out of the lab and away from all of the reminders that the Gordon case was still haunting him.

Andra nodded, "Sure let's go."

"I've got to tell D.B. I'm heading out for awhile. C'mon." He tugged her towards D.B.'s office.

The scene in D.B.'s office did nothing to lift Andra's mood, it did just the opposite, it enraged her. She grabbed the doorknob and flung the door open with Nick calling behind her to stop but she ignored him. "What the hell are you doing here?" She asked as she stalked up to a man around her age in a tweed jacket and glasses. "Neil I swear tell me now!" She poked him in the chest with a manicured fingernail.

"Now, now Dr. O'Neil is that how we present ourselves to the crime lab?" He said in a mocking tone.

"Neil I swear if you screw this up for me or the University I will haunt you."

"So you two know each other?" D.B. asked in his usual cool manner, as he witnessed the scene play out in front of him.

"Yeah you could say that!" Andra said, her voice still full of anger and hatred toward the man in front of her, her eyes never leaving Neil's face. "Why are you here?"

"Aww come on Andi you and I both know the answer to that question." He said with a smirk, knowing it would drive her crazy.

"Don't, you don't get to call me Andi and you don't get to walk in here..."

He cut her off mid-rant, "Oh but don't I. I have an email from the department heads stating the opposite. And from your carriage and demeanor right now I have to agree with them, you are not fit for the job right now, Andi." He let out a condescending 'tsk.' "Maybe you should go home and take some time off."

"Listen to me Neil. As someone who works with you daily I hate you, I actually loathe your very existence. These people have zero tolerance for your brand of bullshit, they're kind of trained to see right through it. I am warning you tread lightly and do not ruin this for me."

He rolled his eyes, knowing he was fully under her skin, "I'll need your flash drive with your current cases that you're working on with the lab." He said as he held his hand out. "CSI Russell and I need to discuss them in private."

Andra grabbed the drive from her purse and slammed it down into his hand and turned to leave the room with Nick, "Oh Neil," She turned and called to him sweetly.

"Yes Andi."

"The drive is encrypted and each separate file is encrypted and you need this as well." She held up the random number generator encryption key, "To get past the first level of security to even get the drive to operate. Have fun trying to open it without this or any of the passwords." She slipped the key back into her bag and left walked through the door with Nick.

"Bitch!" He called after her.

"Toodles you pompous tweed wearing jackass!" She smirked, knowing she had won the round.

"So that's what happens everyday at work?" Nick asked. "Because that was pretty intense."

She shrugged. "More or less. I'm not allowed to shoot at him with Nerf anymore. There were complaints, all from him."

Nick laughed as they exited the elevator to the parking garage, "Why do you let that guy get under your skin? He's so far below you."

"He's just so slimey. I really want to punch him in the throat most days." She handed him her car keys. "Can you drive? I'm just too tired."

"Yeah, you know I like driving the beast." That's what Nick called the Mustang. He clicked the starter so the roof could slide down before they entered the car. As soon as he heard the car turn on he heard a familiar and concerning 'click', there was less than a tenth of a second to react "Get down." He threw himself on top of Andra and threw both of them onto the ground behind a the row of cars they were walking next to and covered their heads, before they had hit the ground the Mustang exploded with a deafening '**BOOM**', setting the car aflame, and along with the two cars next to it and setting off all of the car alarms on that level of the parking garage into an uncoordinated chorus of "**RARARA, BEEP BEEP BEEP,BEBOBEBOBEBOBEBOBEBO, RORORORO**" It was all so much that one couldn't think straight. "**Stay here!**" Nick yelled to Andra, above the screams of the car alarms as he sprang to his feet and drew his gun to survey the scene. As he crept closer to the decomposing vehicle there was no one else in the parking garage but the two but all around the car there were papers littering the ground that all read the sam thing, 'I am everywhere Mr. Stokes.'

Within seconds the rest of the department had rushed into the parking garage to see what happened, they all stopped when they realized whose car had in fact blown up.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

D.B. was in his office wondering how severe a heart attack he would have to fake in order to get Neil to leave and get some time to himself, Andra was right this guy was insufferable, pompus and most of all annoying. He was currently delivering D.B. his full CV along with academic achievements when D.B. heard something that sounded like an explosion a few floors up, then the alarms started to go off. Something was definitely up. The building's emergency system had been updated since 9/11 and was currently telling them the location of the fire in question. "There is a fire in sector 5, parking garage A, floor 2. Please follow the evacuation plan for your floor and avoid all elevators and escalators." The mechanical disembodied voice kept repeating itself over and over until you wanted to rip it's non-existent voice box out and step on it.

D.B. ran to grab Sarah, Fin and Greg without excusing himself. "We're heading to that parking garage. I think Nick's in danger!" They followed without complaint. The group headed up the stairs toward the fire, followed by the emergency teams, including fire personnel and police personnel, and burst out onto the scene. They were shocked at what they saw and heard. All of the car alarms on that floor were screaming, the air was filled with thick black smoke that burnt your eyes as well as your lungs as you tried to breath, three cars were on fire clearly stemming from the one in the middle and there were pieces of paper flying around. "NICK!" D.B. called out uselessly over the cars, "NICK!" The smoke burnt his eyes and caused him to start to cough. They ran closer to the cars to find Nick doubled over coughing and gasping for air, he had gotten too close to the fire and had breathed in too much smoke.

"Nick we're coming!" Sarah yelled as she ran to her friend with her sleeve over her mouth. "We're coming!" She was the first to reach Nick who looked to be fading fast. "Hold on Nick!" She said as she reached him and crouched down next to him grabbing him by the shoulders as another series of coughs wracked their way through his body. The firemen with their oxygen tanks reached the floor and set the sprinklers off, soaking everything and everyone in the garage, also helping to tamp down the smoke. She could see him trying to mouth something but the words were soft and hard to hear. "Nick I can't hear you. It's too loud in here."

He leaned in, his voice was raspy and strained, "Andra," He rasped out and managed to point toward a row of cars he had thrown them behind and resumed couching and gasping for air again.

For the first time Sarah saw a set of feet sticking out from behind a sedan across from where Nick was.

An hour later the last of the car owners had all been located and brought to the parking garage to deactivate their car alarms. "That's better." D.B. said to no one in particular as the chirping and howling that once filled the room was muted. He returned his attention to the crime scene in front of him. "Finn what'd you find?" He asked as he approached Finn who was examining the destroyed Mustang.

"A lot of water damaged evidence." Finn said as she took some paint scrapings. "God this was a beautiful car. What a waste." Finn said with a shake of her head as she mourned the loss of her friend's car.

"Yeah I'm sure Andra feels the same way." D.B. said off cooly. He knew the 2013 Mustang was Andra's pride and joy. When she first started working for the lab she had a Jeep that she used to fly around in with the doors and top removed, he always had a fatherly worry that she'd roll it one day or fall out, he wasn't much happier about her having a manual v-8 convertible and a lead foot but Nick and her work had done a lot over the years to temper her impulsivity. Right now D.B. didn't care who drove what where as long as everyone lived, he was not going to have anyone he cared about on an autopsy table! "Where's Greg?"

"I think he went downstairs to pull video."

"Okay good, I'm going to go check on Nick." D.B. left Finn to do her thing and went to check on Nick who was sitting on a gurney outside of an ambulance with an oxygen mask on his face. "You gave us a hell of a scare there buddy," D.B. said as he clapped Nick on the shoulder. "What the hell happened?"

"Wuh Wah ah ha, I cuked the thin..." Nick's voice was muffled by the oxygen mask so he sounded like one of the adults from Charlie brown.

"Nick you've still got that mask on, I can't understand you buddy."

Nick stopped and touched the mask on his face remembering he was wearing it, so he slipped it off for a moment to talk to D.B. "We walked out of the elevator into the garage and Andi gave me her keys so I could drive. I clicked the started to remotely take the top down and then I heard a suspicious click and knew something was wrong so I threw both of us behind a row of cars and then 'Boom!'" He threw his hands in the air to illustrate the explosion. "It all happened in less than a second."

"Did you see anyone in the garage or in the elevator?"

Nick shook his head, "No, it was just us."

D.B. nodded, it wasn't unusual to be alone in the parking garage in the middle of the day due to people being busy inside the building. "How are you doing?"

Nick shrugged trying to hide any vulnerability he was feeling, "Not great. I've definitely been better."

"I don't want you worrying about this NIck, I have the whole team working over time. I have Greg pulling video and we have calls into the Bellagio an every other place Andra and her friends were this weekend. We're increasing your protection." Nick was about to protest when D.B. held up a hand to stop him, "Don't argue with me about this Nick. You're more use to me alive than dead and this guy has gone to great lengths to show us he can get to you whenever he wants. He had Andra attacked at a hotel, He's been to your home, he's been here, and he's been stalking you about a year now if what Greg told me is true. Are you actually going to tell me that you don't need more protection?"

Nick shook his head, "No, I guess you're right."

Before Nick could further explain himself one of the EMT's came over and interrupted him. "Excuse me Mr. Stokes but Ms. O'neil is refusing to go to the hospital despite our recommendations. She's demanding to be released into her own care." The EMT had a worried look on his face.

Nick didn't understand the problem, "So she's an adult, release her. I'll be home with her. I've already done this once this week and I know she hates hospitals."

"Well that's the problem. You were both injured and given that you are suffering smoke inhalation and refusing hospitalization we were hoping to release you to a significant other, but she has a head wound and was unconscious upon our arrival. We can't release one injured person to another injured person, not with the injuries the two of you sustained. You actually need a third person to sign off and agree to monitor you both for the next eight hours incase anything happens."

Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Are you saying we need adult supervision?"

"Umm yes sir."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this. Our families both live in different parts of the country. What do you expect us to do!" He snapped at the EMT, who shrank back a bit.

"You know what this is ridiculous. Get me the paperwork. I'll sign for them both. I can keep an eye on them for the next eight hours." D.B. said with a finality that Nick knew all too well.

The EMT ran off to get all the paperwork he needed for D.B. to sign.

"Thanks D.B. I don't know what I would have done if I had to deal with Andra in the hospital for another eight hours. She already has issues with being in the hospital, this week just added to them."

"Yeah a lot of people are phobic." D.B. tried to sympathize.

"Yeah." Nick agreed deciding now was not the time to tell D.B. how when Andra was in college she wound up getting alcohol poisoning twice before she was 21in the pursuit to "fit in", only causing her more problems, she had grown up a lot since her early college days but that happens when you go to college at 17. Some things were better kept between her and Nick, that was the beauty of being a couple.

"How'd she wind up with that concussion?" D.B. asked.

"Oh, yeah that's sort of my fault. When I heard the noise and threw us down, I threw myself on top of her to shield her from the blast and I must have thrown or pushed her on the ground pretty hard and then landed on top of her because she was knocked out and has a cut above her eye now. She's already self-conscious about her face, this won't help."

"Well you kept the two of you alive. A few bumps and bruises is a small price to pay. You did good Nick." D.B. clapped him on the shoulder again and walked back toward the scene. "Fin what'd you find!"

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Please review I appreciate it  
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The next day the lab was hard at work, Greg and Hodges were happy that their tests and leg work had FINALLY started yielding some results they could use.

"Women's purses have always frightened me," Hodges said as he walked into D.B.'s office with a smile on his face.

"That's the oddest phobia I've ever heard of." D.B. said not looking up from the pile of paperwork he was working on.

"Have you seen those things? You could lose a small child inside one, Dr. O'neil's is no exception, the woman carries a stung gun," Hodges said with a tone that signaled he was hoping to shock his boss.

"I'm aware."

Hodges was shocked that he wasn't shocked. "But it did yield some good finds." Hodges said with a satisfied grin.

"I take it you have something for me or else you wouldn't be in here chatting about women's accessories." D.B. said looking up from his work.

"Precisely. Andra's purse had among it's vast contents receipts in it from her day out, we were able to use her receipts to verify her time line of events, and compare her stomach contents against what she ate that day. According to this receipt," he slid an evidence bag across the desk, "She had a venti, iced tea with three pumps of sugar syrup at Starbucks at 4:55. Then she didn't eat or drink anything again until dinner at 8:00. We obviously didn't find any of the iced tea from earlier in her stomach due to digestion, but here's where it gets interesting."

"I hope so."

Hodges rolled his eyes at D.B.'s snark, "Andra reported ordering the bacon wrapped scallops with Jasmine rice and grilled pineapple and a glass of sauvignon blanc. I've had that dish before, it is divine." D.B. gave him the 'really?' look. "In her interview she said she'd had it multiple times there over the years and was comfortable with the dish due to it not containing any foods she's allergic to."

"Do we know what she's allergic to?"

"She provided us with a list, wheat, soy, dairy, oats and mango. She's also severely lactose intolerant. She has to be careful when she goes to restaurants because most of these things are common in a lot of dishes."

"Yeah I'd say. It's a wonder she can eat."

"Exactly, so she would order something she's comfortable with especially with friends in town. She also mentioned that the rice tasted different, almost off so she stopped eating it and that she got a stomach ache half way through dinner."

D.B. smiled knowing Hodges had found him something good, "Tell me what you found Hodges."

"Her stomach contents from the hospital did in fact indicate she had eaten that dish or about half of it, it also indicated she had eaten wheat germ extract and powdered milk."

"Well Andi's a lot of things but she's no masochist." D.B. said with a pondersome look on his face.

"Exactly. So I called the Bellagio and talked to their head chef. They have had the same chefs in the kitchen for the last six years and wheat germ and powdered milk are not components in that dish and they never have been."

"So how come she didn't go into anaphylaxis?" D.B. asked.

"Anaphylaxis is only one possible symptom of an allergy, it doesn't mean that one day she won't have that reaction just not today. I talked to Andra about her allergy symptoms and she confirmed that among her reactions to her allergies is extreme G.I. discomfort, cramps, bloating and the like and vomiting. She threw up like a kid after a birthday party."

"So she was poisoned. This guy, this stalker, he's been watching them, listening to them, he knew what would happen if she ate that food he knew she'd have to go back to her room because of her stomach. She told me and Nick that night she was looking for something for her stomach." D.B.'s suspicions were confirmed. "She was set up. He knew she'd get sick and go back to her room alone. He made her sick, and send the Wallace kid to wait for her and rape her." He slammed his fist down on his desk, "I hate this guy." He took a second to collect himself. "Alright I want you to give Sarah and Fin the names of those stores and see if they can get the video from their security cameras. I'm guessing this guy shows up on a few of those tapes."

"Will do."

"Oh and Hodges."

"Yes D.B.?"

"Good work."

"Thank you." Hodges smiled at the compliment and left to find Sarah.

Greg was busy as work in his lab when D.B. walked in. "I heard you may have something."

Greg looked up from his computer monitor, "Yeah I found something interesting in the crime scene photos from yesterday. A lot was destroyed by the water, but it didn't get everything." He stood up and took D.B. over to his wall of photos. "I was confused yesterday because when I pulled the tapes from the parking garage I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I looked through that tape for hours and I recognized every single person on it. So I went back to the garage to see if we missed anything. I looked under the cars and realized someone's car is leaking oil. There was a puddle of it under this car," He pointed out a picture of a blue Honda. "I talked to the owner, it's detective, Owens, he thinks his kid did something to it last weekend. But the oil spot somehow smeared under cars to the left and right of it," He pointed out a series of pictures. "And I went back to the scene to check it out and found this under the car next to Andra's Mustang." He picked up an evidence bag with a medium sized brass button in it. "I think whoever is stalking Nick and Andra is adept or trained to be invisible and get around in unconventional ways."

"Like crawling on your belly through a parking garage." D.B. said nodding his head. "This is good Greg, this is really good. Alright so we're looking at trained professionals, police personnel, military personnel, and the like. What have you found in the case files from the Wallace cases?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Greg said frustrated. "I'm gonna keep looking though, there's something there, I know it." Greg had something to tell D.B. but he didn't want to, it was about the case but he wished he never found it so he stood there trying to tell him but failin.

"What is it Greg what's wrong? I know the lab has been off since Nick can't do his normal job with you guys, I feel it too." D.B. tried to help Greg.

Greg ran a shaky hand through his spiky hair, "It's not that, well it is but that's not my issue right now. Here i'll show you." He took D.B. over to the computer. "That flash drive that was sent to Nick I got it open. Well it wasn't hard, I just put it in the drive and it opened. But what's on it. D.B. it's bad."

"Just show me Greg it'll be okay."

"It would kill Nick if anyone else found out." Greg protested.

"It'll be okay Greg. We can lock this up if it's that bad we'll decide later if it needs to go to trial."

"It's not only that. Well you'll see." Greg played the first part for him, it was an audio file. A door opened, and there was some rustling and a woman's voice "Hello?"

"That's Andra." D.B. said in surprise.

"Keep listening." As the file went on another person could be heard moving in the room, "Who's there", then there was a struggle, bodies could be heard banging against doors and walls, there was a man's scream, then a woman's, then "please, no, stop, no, stop" could be heard over and over until she subsided into whimpering and crying, there was one more loud thump (presumably the man knocking Andra out) then the door closing, then the audio ended. "I told you it was bad." Greg said to D.B. who was standing there in shock.

D.B.'s eyes were wide with shock and horror. "Never in all my time on the job have I heard something like that." D.B. said in shock. "That's horrific. This guy really wants Nick to suffer."

"Yeah, and he's doing a good job at it."

"What's that file?" D.B. asked pointing to another file on the screen.

Greg wordlessly opened the video file. It showed Andra and a man that neither Greg or D.B. knew or recognized from her family pictures pulling up to a brownstone in Chicago in a BMW, it appeared to be winter because they were both wearing pea coats, scarves and jeans, the time stamp in the video read that it was from March of this year. The video showed them walking into the building together then walking out an hour later and leaving in the car. "I think she's cheating on Nick when she's back in Chicago."

"Let's not jump to conclusions here Greg." D.B. tried to keep Greg from doing anything irrational.

"I went back through that stack of photos the stalker sent us, there are two photos of this guy and Adnra in there from that same trip home in March" Greg retrieved the photos from his work table. "They were having dinner together."

"Are you trying to pin a Scarlett Letter on her or are you trying to solve a case here because her and Nick's personal affairs are none of our business."

"I know but what if these pictures have something to do with the stalker? It is out of the ordinary. I think we should ask her about them." Greg was persistent about this.

"Fine I'll allow it." D.B. reluctantly agreed.


	9. Chapter 9

Please read and review, I really need feedback guys.

Fin arrived on the scene of the 419 that D.B. assigned her, she was the one with the most free time lately and that wasn't saying much given that all of their time and energy was going into finding Nick's stalker. She felt bad for D.B., he was working with Andra's temporary replacement from UNLV Neil to put together a psychological profile of the stalker. Andra was right, the guy was a pompous self-absorbed ass and he never stopped talking, he had asked Julie out already she declined. She pulled up to a motel that rented rooms by the hour in The Alphabets, a neighborhood in the wrong part of town known for it's nefarious activities. She parked her Denali out front and the motel told her everything she needed to know about it before she even got out of the car: dirty, run down, condom wrappers, liquor bottles and cigarette butts on the sidewalk out front, a few hookers lingering around out front scattered when they saw her badge. She saw the door with the yellow police tape and a few uniformed officers waiting out front, that was her room. She grabbed her kit out of the back and headed to her target. "Hey guys, what do we have today?" She asked in her oddly cheerful tone that she used when investigating murder.

"No blood today Julie, just a junkie who OD'd." One of the uniforms told her.

"Alright well I'm still going to be here awhile," She said as she entered the room and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I can't believe this is where someone died." She surveyed the room, the sheets looked like they had seen better decades, the rug was worn and threadbare in spots, the walls needed a good scrubbing or just to be lit on fire and burnt to the ground, the TV still had knobs and was chained to a post in the middle of the room. She didn't even want to imagine the horrors that awaited her in the bathroom.

She walked over to the body on the bed and started to do her preliminary work, taking photos of the body and looking for any identifying marks or identification. After taking all of the photos of the scene she needed she turned the body over, the young woman was pretty and if she was a user hadn't been using long, short blonde hair, cut short, nice clothes possibly a student or local, no rings, no necklaces (possibly stolen), but a nice pair of diamond studded earrings (why wouldn't someone take those), there was something sticking out of her shirt a white piece of paper. Julie carefully noted the paper for evidence then took the paper out and opened it, she couldn't believe what she was reading "HaHa Mr. Stokes. I found her before you could. Next your lovely fiancee, you can't protect her forever." Julie found the young woman's purse on the floor next to the bed and rummaged through it until she found a license inside, "NO!" She said out loud, not this. Julie grabbed her cell phone and called her find into D.B. and confirmed that they had found the body of Beatrice James.

Doc Robbins had just finished the autopsy of the young woman that Julie had found in the hotel room when there was a knock on the door of his morgue. "Come in." He called not looking up, he expected D.B. or one of the CSI team to walk in, he was not expecting this visitor.

"Brass called and told us you guys found her. She didn't deserve this." Andra said softly as she wiped away tears with her sleeve and approached the table "B" was on.

"None of them do." Doc Robbins added.

Andra looked down at the lifeless body of the young woman she once knew. "Just because she used to use doesn't mean she wasn't a good person. We all have skeletons in our closets. She turned her life around, she was working at a hotel out here. She's not originally from here you know."

Doc Robbins nodded in understanding. "Sarah told me you know her from Glenn Creek."

She smiled sadly as she spoke, "Yeah I had just moved out here and started grad school at UNLV and was working up at Glenn Creek. I was all of 21 and had a different position back then. She was my first experience working with a substance abuser let alone a heroin addict. She was 17 back then. Her parents had sent her all the way from New Hampshire. Her boyfriend had been passing her around at parties and prostituting her out and had gotten her strung out on the stuff." She stopped to collect herself and wipe more tears as they spilled from her eyes. "She was so scared of people when she came in and she blossomed so much in the program. It made me really sad when she was asked to leave and I'm the one she stabbed. She was so excited when she ran into me in the store that day. She'd been sober for 9 years, had gotten her degree in hospitality and was working in one of the hotels out here. She saw my engagement ring and was so happy to hear I'm getting married." She started to struggle to talk as she started crying harder. "All I had to do was remember what hotel she worked at, it's my fault she died." She broke down sobbing.

"Andra you can't blame yourself for this. None of this is your fault." Doc Robbins tried to console her.

Andra didn't say anything, she just fled the room clutching her chest and breathing heavily.

Doc Robbins waited a few minutes before checking the hallway to see if Andra was still there, he had a feeling she was because he had not heard the elevator and he could hear someone breathing heavily down the hall. He quietly crept down the hall and followed the sound of heavy breathing and crying until he reached an alcove just down the hall from the morgue. What he saw when he peered around the corner shocked and saddened him, Andra was on the floor curled up with her knees in her chest rocking back and forth and grabbing her chest while she hyperventilated.

Doc made his way back to the morgue and made a quick call upstairs. "It's me. Is Nick up there?...I need him down here, she's having a panic attack."

Nick came running down the stairwell a few moments later and met Doc Robbins outside the alcove where Andra was sitting. "What's up?" Nick asked concerned.

"She was upset about Beatrice and started blaming herself for her death. I tried to reassure her that it wasn't her fault but she was too upset, she ran out and I found her out here a few minutes later. She's completely unresponsive but she's aware, does she have a history of panic attacks?"

Nick nodded as he watched Andra struggling with her panic attack, "Yeah she has a mild anxiety disorder. Usually she's fine but this week has been too much stress for her. She had an attack at the hospital too."

Doc Robbins shook his head, "I never should have let her in there, it's against protocol for civilians to be in there, but it's Andra. She's one of us."

"Don't worry about it Doc."

Doc nodded in understanding, "You alright with her?"

"Yeah I've got it. Thanks Doc." Doc Robbins headed back toward the lab and left Nick to deal with Andra. Nick hated seeing her like this, he hated that he couldn't protect her from the mind games this guy was playing. He slid down the wall and sat down next to her and waited for her to calm down enough to talk to. He sat and observed her, she as rocking, shaking, breathing heavy and gasping for air all at the same time while she cried, it was one of the worst things he had to watch in his life but he guessed that was the whole idea here. This guy wanted him to watch as he destroyed the life of the person he loved the most. When she finally calmed down enough to talk he took her hand and talked to her softly, "Hey there." He handed her the bottle of Valium he found in her purse. "Here I thought you might need these.", She took the bottle from him and dry swallowed two pills, he was concerned at her taking two but kept that to himself. "That seemed pretty bad"

She nodded weakly and swallowed before answering, "Yeah."

"Wanna talk about it?"

She shook her head, "No." She closed her eyes briefly before saying anything else, "I can't do this anymore, it's too much and now an innocent person is dead. I don't know what's going to happen next and I really don't want to find out and I can't bury more people Nick."

"I know. I know." He really had no words of comfort, he knew this was a bad situation and that she was right.

"Nick he's stalking us, he knows who our family and friends are, where we work and live he knows personal and intimate details about us." Her words were strained yet precise. "God knows how much he knows. On a chance meeting with B she wound up dead." She stopped before she cried again. "If I had just remembered. I thought it was Planet Hollywood, I swear." She dissolved into tears again.

He tried to soothe her and get her to stop blaming herself. "It's not your fault. You said it yourself he's been stalking us, he knows everything. He was probably watching you that day in Whole Foods." He wasn't sure how comforting that actually was. "Look Paris and Planet Hollywood are both theme hotels right next door to each other and they both begin with 'P', it's natural that in all this confusion and all the events going on this week that you'd get confused. It's okay."

"No it's not, not for me. Maybe for other people, normal people but not for me. I'm a psychologist, I graduated from The University of Illinois at 21, I had two PhD's by the time I was thirty. I thrive in chaos and get into people's minds. I should be able to remember the name of a hotel I pass at least twice a week."

"You thrive in other people's chaos not your own. Your life, our lives have been turned upside down and inside out. It's okay to forget things, you're not perfect and you have to stop expecting that from yourself."

She shook her head before answering him, "He killed her. He took her and filled a needle with heroin and killed her with it." She closed her eyes like she was trying to block an image. "She died alone because she knew me." And a fresh round of tears spilled over.

Nick gathered her in his arms and held her as she cried for her former patient. "No she died because of me. He's trying to show me that people even loosely associated with me through others are in danger. He wants me out in the open. He wants me to come after him."

She grabbed onto his shirt and buried her face in his chest, "Don't do it, please, I can't lose you. I love you too much I won't bury you."

He held her a little tighter, "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here with you. No one's getting between us." Truthfully he had had it with this mystery stalker and wanted to go out and hunt him, he was getting edgy and itching to do so. He had been seeking a lot of advice from D.B. and they had nightly shooting practice and that helped him get a lot of his aggression out. The only things keeping him sane right now were the lab and Andra. He felt terrible about the fact that someone with a grudge against him had concentrated all of their hate toward her and had been able to strip her of everything in such a short amount of time. "You can lean on me you know. Bottling all this up isn't going to help you. That's part of the deal here, we help each other out."

She leaned off of him and shook her head, "No, you have too much going on here to worry about me. I can't be selfish like that, Las Vegas needs you. I can't distract you from your work, or get you hurt."

Sometimes he wanted to shake her, she hated asking for help. "We have to take care of each other. It's part of the deal when you get married. You are great at taking care of me when I need it but you need to learn to ask for help darlin'."

She looked down and shrugged her shoulders.

"Have you talked to anyone about what's going on?"

She looked over at him like he had grown two heads, "Like who? Who in the free world that is living can help me right now?"

"Your friends, your mother, your father, NoNo, your therapist..."

"My friends can't handle this, they are still getting over what happened last weekend. My mother just no, I don't need the guilt and constant phone calls. Plus she'd broadcast it to the entire Yenta nation." Nick couldn't disagree with her there, and even he the God fearing southern Christian boy hat he was had picked up enough yiddish slang in his time with Andra to know what she meant. He loved Andra's mom like his own but she was a chatter box, there was no denying it. "My father would be on the first flight out here with the entire Cook County Sheriff's department, I don't need that. I lied to NoNo for the first time in my life and that's killing me, I'm convinced she has magical powers and knows I was lying anyway. My therapist is good but even she isn't equipped to deal with something like this."

"How do you know if you don't tell her? You're stuck on leave anyway and you have to talk to her."

She glared at him, "Fine." She took his hand in her smaller one. "Nick I'm going nuts in that house with those officers. I have protection on me 24/7, I can't go to yoga or the market alone. You're always at work."

"I have officers on me here too. I'm not trying to avoid anything or escape, It's just my outlet and I need to be here in case something happens on the case."

"I know, I just...I just wish you were home more since I'm stuck there. I'm not even allowed to drive anymore Nick, god at least they use the Denalis. I didn't want to say anything before because I didn't want to seem whiny or needy but I really do need you right now. I'm about to lose it on someone in that house."

Nick thought for a moment, she had done exactly what he had asked. She asked for her needs to be met and he wasn't going to deny her, he knew that the lab could wait a day or two for him and D.B. would understand plus he could tell the Valium was kicking in because she had the exact same look on her face that he had seen on her last St. Patrick's day after she had too much to drink. "Alright, let's go home."

She gave him a wavy smile "Thanks for never giving up on my stubborn ass."

"I wouldn't have you any other way." He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead then helped her to her feet.

"I think I have this." She did not have this, she took a step and fell into the wall next to her. "I got this."

Nick guided her to the elevator, "I'm sure you do, but for safety why don't I just guide you."

She was in her own medication clouded world, she looked back at Nick, "Officer I swear I only had one drink," she winked at him as they entered the elevator to go up to CSI.

'Any other day this would be awesome,' Nick thought to himself, unfortunately for him Andra wasn't acting out a fantasy to be finished at home, she was pretty much high and was in fact dealing with severe trauma. He looked down at her as he held her close around the waist, she was leaning on him pretty heavily and her head was on his shoulder as her arms dangled limply, "Andi, darlin' are you up?" He asked getting no answer in return. 'Great she's asleep.' The elevator stopped and opened it's doors into CSI. He did the only thing he could think to do, He scooped her up and carried her through to D.B.'s office.

D.B. looked up from the paperwork he was trying to sort out when Nick came in and deposited the now sleeping Andra on the couch in his office. "What is going on in that Morgue?" He asked gesturing to the sleeping young woman.

Nick chuckled, "Oh believe me doc was telling the truth, she was having a full blown panic attack when I went down there. She took a couple Valium when I got down there and fell asleep in the elevator on the way up here."

"Is she going to be okay? Those things are pretty powerful."

"Yeah she'll be fine. They gave her way more than that at the hospital." Nick said with a new confidence in himself as a future husband. He was going to handle this. "I um, I need a few days off."

"When?"

"Now. All this, as you can imagine, is not making things any easier at home and she really needs me right now."

D.B. though on it for a moment and considered Nick's request. "Not a problem, take the rest of the week off."

"Really? It won't cause problems in the lab?"

"Nick don't worry about it. We have more than enough people between days and nights we'll figure it out. You're needed at home right now, take care of her, take care of your relationship. You only get so many chances to do that." Nick nodded in understanding. "I'll call you if we find anything out or we need you two for anything on the case okay."

"Thanks D.B."


End file.
